Blood for her Crown

Chapter Ten

Aderah

"I'm hungry."

"I'm shocked."

"Can we take a break?"

"We just took a break two hours ago."

"But I'm hungry."

"If you don't shut the hell up now, I'm going to shove a dagger down your throat."

"I'm not sure daggers are edible..."

"You'll find out." Grace drew her dagger, spinning it on the tip of her finger.

"You know what? I think food is overrated anyway."

"Good choice."

It was early in the afternoon. They have been riding for hours, with only two breaks for the horses. Grace hadn't been exaggerating when she had said that they would travel fast.

Aderah had never seen the surrounding areas of her village. The four of them rode alongside the forest, across meadows and fields. When night came they'd continue through the woods. It would be safer this way, Grace had said.

"Are they always arguing like this?" Aderah frowned at Jamie and Grace, who were fighting for the third time this day since the morning.

"Yeah, you'll get used to it."

She laughed.

Her white mare snorted as Grace hit Jamie on the shoulder.

"I could definitely get used to this," she said with a grin when he dramatically leaned back and almost fell off the horse.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Later that day, Jamie insisted on taking another break.

Now that they were sitting against trees with their bags of food, he sat as far away from Grace as possible.
Ciden had decided to accompany her, which left Aderah and Jamie.

She looked at him, considering. "What is it?"

He blinked twice, lost in his thoughts. "Sorry. It was nothing. I just—I was just thinking about something..."

"How you could escape Grace in the night when we are sleeping?"

He threw his head back and laughed. "How'd you know that?" he asked, still grinning.

"Just a guess."

He looked over at Grace, who was talking to Ciden.

When he turned back, he seemed to have noticed the necklace around her neck and curiosity sparked in his eyes. "You didn't wear this before, did you?"

Her hand flew to the symbol on the chain. "No. It's my mother's. I had hidden it in the shed. I couldn't look at it after... I couldn't leave it there."

It felt like he understood her. She could see it in his eyes. "It's beautiful."

A sad smile tucked at the corners of her mouth. "My father made it for her. She never took it off until one day, when she gave it to me. I don't know why, but she wanted me to have it."